“GAY DAYS® is the registered trademark of Gay Days, Inc. Used under license and with permission. All rights reserved.”
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
OPEN LETTER TO:
DJ/PRODUCER PETER RAUHOFER AND THE OWNERS OF THE OPIUM GROUP
We are writing to you about a very special annual celebration that benefits the South Florida community on many levels - the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Winter Party Festival. The 2010 Festival will take place March 3-8. As it has for many years, the Festival will support and be supported by many Miami Beach businesses. The Opium Group has benefited from an immense amount of business from Winter Party Festival over the years; however, this year The Opium Group has not only decided to host a competing party, it has also declined to contract with the Task Force for use of either of its South Beach nightclub properties. While the Task Force has found another venue for its Sunday night event, we are very disappointed that you have withdrawn support from this important annual fundraising event.
We believe that you may not be aware of the serious repercussions this business decision may have on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community of South Florida. Winter Party Festival is the largest annual fundraising event produced by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, our country's oldest, most enduring national organization dedicated to achieving equality for the LGBT community. What makes it truly unique is that two-thirds of the net proceeds are distributed to nonprofit organizations serving the Miami-Dade LGBT community through a grant-making program administered by the Dade Community Foundation. In the past five years, nearly $800,000 in proceeds from the Task Force's Miami events has been distributed to local organizations.
The dollar amount dispersed last year was significantly less than the amount raised in previous years, in part because a competing event at The Opium Group's Mansion property resulted in a 32% decrease in revenue for Winter Party Festival's 2009 Sunday night dance party. As a result, there was less money to be distributed to the Dade Community Foundation's sixteen grant recipients, including the ACLU Foundation of Florida, Center for Communications on HIV/AIDS, Equality Florida, Miami Beach Gay Pride, Pridelines Youth Services, Safe Schools South Florida, SAVE Foundation and Switchboard of Miami.
Winter Party Festival buoys many local businesses by bringing in over 10,000 people from around the world to shop, dine and experience the Miami Beach nightlife. In fact, the Miami Beach Visitor & Convention Authority awards the Task Force with a sizable grant each year to enhance the Festival's marketing efforts. The Festival's centerpiece event, the Beach Party, is the attraction that draws approximately 10,000 guests from around the world to Miami Beach, but it is the other dance parties that allow the Festival to generate a healthy return on investment. The Sunday night dance party, in particular, is critical to the Festival's success.
The economic crisis our country has been experiencing has negatively affected individual giving. As a result, our local organizations are more dependent than ever on grants. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and its team of dedicated South Florida volunteers have been working extremely hard for the past nine months to ensure that the pool of money from the 2010 Festival is larger than ever. The production of a successful Sunday evening dance party is crucial to achieving this goal. It is inevitable that a competing event targeted at the same audience will make this objective even more difficult to meet.
While we realize that that your plans for 2010 are already in place, we hope that, equipped with a better understanding of what Winter Party Festival means to our local community, you will not sponsor a competing party next year. We also hope that you will consider making one of your venues available to the Task Force in 2011. In the meantime, we ask you to support the Festival and its mission of raising funds for the LGBT community by making a sizeable donation to the Task Force.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force would welcome a further dialogue about Winter Party Festival and the opportunity to answer any questions you may have. The organization can be reached through Russell Roybal, Deputy Executive Director of External Relations, at 202.639.6324.
OFFICIAL WPF EVENT LIST
Courtesy of MRNY.com for WinterParty.com
DJ BORIS and DJ TRACY YOUNG
TO OUR LISTENERS: We invite you to make a difference in peoples lives by supporting the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Winter Party Festival 2010. You can do so by only attending sanctioned events. "Bottom feeders" are attempting to profit from the success of this remarkable week of charity events by holding competing events designed to cause confusion and dilute the potential revenue essential to local charity organizations and their operating budgets based on historical donations by the Task Force. While we believe in capitalism and the right to operate a for profit business of any kind, by design these competing events during the same week of Winter Party Festival and their "for profit motives" stand to prevent meeting the financial goals and good works of the Task Force. Please party where your dollars are used to provide the necessary funding for local and national charities. A full listing of sanctioned Winter Party Festival events can be found on Winter Party.com. Click any of the WPF banner on the site for more information. We hope to see you at Orbit with DJ BORIS and opening DJ Tracy Young Sunday night, March 7th. Free party shuttle buses are available and will be running ALL NIGHT. G.I.R.L. will be pumping the dance mix on the buses to keep the party rolling! Thank you for supporting the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Gay Days Weekend 2010
CHECK OUT THE GAYINTERNETRADIOLIVE.COM DJ'S HEADED TO GAY DAYS!
One Lucky DJ will join this amazing line up as part of the
2010 Gay Days DJ contest.
Details on the contest page! Deadline February 24, 2010!
Book your hotel for Gay Days 2010 NOW at GayDays.com! Join us pool side!
Admission is FREE to hotel guests! General admission available to
outside guests. No matter where you're staying, come join the fun!
PARTY ALL DAY - PARTY ALL NIGHT - ONE STOP & NON-STOP!
Complete DJ Schedule HERE GAY DAYS® is the registered trademark of Gay Days, Inc. Used under license and with permission. All rights reserved
Enough is Enough
A message from Care Resource of Miami, FL
Every year not-for-profit organizations and city officials throughout the USA come together host LGBT sponsored events to raise monies for other not-for-profit organizations. Collectively these organizations work together to advance the health and welfare of local businesses and numerous organizations that provide services to LGBT youth, people living with HIV/AIDS, suicide prevention hotlines, and many other essential services to advance the general well being of the local community.
Lady GaGa and Cyndi Lauper are linking up -- and it's not in the studio. The singers recently participated in a photo shoot that will be used in the upcoming Mac Viva Glam lipstick advertisement. Proceeds from the lipstick's sales go directly tothe MAC AIDS Fund
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(New York, NY) -- The president of Toyota has apologized for his company's recent rash of problems. In just a few weeks, Toyota has faced intense public criticism over sticky gas pedals in multiple vehicle models and faulty brakes in new Priuses
(New York, NY) -- Some new photos of the late actress Marilyn Monroe have surfaced and are being put up for sale. They've been part of photographer Len Steckler's private collection for more than 45 years
Take the mix with you on your iPhone! Get the G.I.R.L. iPhone free on iTunes® . Over 75,000 downloads and counting, GayInternetRadioLive was the FIRST gay internet radio station to release an iPhone app and it remains one of the most downloaded gay apps to date.
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